Georgia Grown building houses detailed exhibits demonstrating agricultural production processes. “We have what’s called the Georgia Grown Program, which is a building, an educational display of major products that are produced in Georgia through agriculture,” Shimp says.Visitors learn about forestry products, the seed-to-shirt journey of cotton, and peanut cultivation and processing. The educational impact operates at scale. “The number one component that I always talk about and think about is the youth involved in these programs,” Shimp notes. “We’re hoping to spark an interest in them into a career in agriculture.” Georgia’s agricultural sector contributes $83.6 billion to the state’s economy and supports 323,300 jobs, creating substantial workforce demand. REVENUE AND REGIONAL IMPACT The 2025 Georgia National Fair delivered strong financial performance across all metrics. “This year we had a significant rise across the board, attendance, food vendor sales, midway ride sales, exhibitions. Owen describes the core educational offering: “We’re offering the opportunity to give someone a place to show their animals or their projects in a facility top notch to the world. When you bring them here, our facility’s open for everybody to come see and they’re presenting their animals or their projects in an environment set up for that.” Additionally, the facility runs a selective leadership program. The ambassador initiative accepts several young people annually for intensive training in facility operations, promotional skills, and agricultural business concepts.“We take 10 young people every year into the leadership program,” Owen explains. “We teach them how the facility works, and what we do here. They help us promote this facility and we use them to help reach out to the young people to help them understand what we do and how it all works together with 4-H and FFA and the Georgia National Fairgrounds.” Partnership with the Georgia Department of Agriculture adds to the educational reach. The 99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01 GEORGIA NATIONAL FAIRGROUNDS AND AGRICENTER
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